[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 190 (Wednesday, October 1, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 59214-59215]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-23388]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE


Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

    The Department of Commerce will submit to the Office of Management 
and Budget (OMB) for clearance the following proposal for collection of 
information under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 
U.S.C. Chapter 35).
    Agency: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
    Title: Gulf of Alaska Ecosystem Indicator Selection.
    OMB Control Number: 0648-xxxx.
    Form Number(s): NA.
    Type of Request: Regular (request for a new information 
collection).
    Number of Respondents: 70.
    Average Hours per Response: 30 minutes.
    Burden Hours: 35.
    Needs and Uses: This request is for a new information collection.
    The goal of this project is to select a short (8-10) list of 
ecosystem indicators for the Gulf of Alaska that will form the basis of 
a Gulf of Alaska (GOA) Report

[[Page 59215]]

Card and Ecosystem Assessment to include in the NOAA's Ecosystem 
Considerations report. This report is produced annually as part of the 
Stock Assessment and Fishery Evaluation report for the North Pacific 
Fishery Management Council. The format of the new GOA Report Card and 
Ecosystem Assessment will be similar to those that have been produced 
in recent years for the eastern Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands.
    The primary recipients, considered to be the stakeholders, of the 
Report Card and Ecosystem Assessment are those involved with the 
fishery quota-setting process for the North Pacific Fisheries 
Management Council. This includes the Science and Statistical Committee 
and the regional Plan Teams, which of are composed of mainly federal 
and state scientists, academics, and other individuals. Additional 
recipients include the Advisory Panel, Council, and stock assessment 
scientists. The Report Card and Ecosystem Assessment are also made 
available to the public.
    For the purposes of this project, ecosystem indicators are defined 
as time-series of data that measure some component of the ecosystem. 
Hundreds of indicators are available for the GOA, which is defined as 
the Canadian-U.S. boundary at Dixon Entrance to the east and False Pass 
to the west. The main objective of the survey is to have participants 
rank the importance of ecosystem indicators among lists of indicators 
that are presented; the surveys will then be compiled to generate a 
list of top indicators. We have developed a non-exhaustive list of 
about 75 ecosystem indicators that are grouped by categories based on 
ecosystem components, such as forage fish or seabirds. Participants 
will be asked to select the top three within each category, then the 
top ten among all categories. Space is provided for suggestions of 
additional indicators not included. We will use these rankings to form 
the basis of a new GOA report card and ecosystem assessment.
    Affected Public: Individuals; not-for-profit institutions; state, 
local and tribal government; business or other for-profit 
organizations.
    Frequency: One time.
    Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary.
    This information collection request may be viewed at reginfo.gov. 
Follow the instructions to view Department of Commerce collections 
currently under review by OMB.
    Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information 
collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of this notice 
to [email protected] or fax to (202) 395-5806.

    Dated: September 26, 2014.
Gwellnar Banks,
Management Analyst, Office of the Chief Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 2014-23388 Filed 9-30-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P